By Mitchell Willetts
Merced Sun-Star
COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — A 15-year-old volleyball player is dead after she collapsed during practice and an ambulance never arrived to help, Georgia officials say.
The teenager, Amanda Sylvester, “was a bright light, not just in our gym, but in the lives of everyone she encountered,” her team, the Dream Chasers Volleyball Club, said in a Dec. 7 Facebook post.
Amanda was warming up during volleyball practice at a recreation center in College Park and “appeared in physical distress” before collapsing at around 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, the city of College Park said in a news release. College Park is a roughly 10-mile drive southwest from downtown Atlanta.
“9-1-1 calls were made, and EMTs were onsite in moments from the College Park Fire Rescue and EMS,” the city said, adding that Amanda was stabilized and able to speak.
Then Amanda, her coaches and teammates and the EMTs who helped her waited — and waited — for the requested ambulance to arrive. “Several follow up calls” were made and still it hadn’t shown up, the city said.
They waited more than an hour for the ambulance, Atlanta News First reported.
Eventually, recreation center staff and the volleyball club helped load the teen into her mother’s van, and she was driven to a hospital, the city said.
While at the hospital, she “suffered cardiac failure, and was revived once. Though care continued, the young woman did not survive,” officials said.
Amanda’s team is not letting her death, and the circumstances leading up to it, go unheard.
“Amanda was more than just a player—she was family to us. When Amanda needed support the most, help never came,” a GoFundMe launched by the team said. “We are determined to stand in the gap and ensure her story is heard. We will not let her loss be in vain.”
City officials applauded the first responders on site at the recreation center for their quick action but said they are looking into why the ambulance never arrived. They said they “will continue to follow up with Fulton County Emergency Dispatch and the ambulance contractor on the issue of their non-performance.”
Grady EMS is the company contracted to provide ambulance services.
Based on the initial call, the situation was considered low severity but was later reclassified, and “a Grady EMS unit was promptly dispatched,” Grady told Atlanta News First.
“However, as our unit was en route, College Park Fire determined that additional EMS support was no longer needed due to the patient being transported to the hospital via personal vehicle,” the company told the outlet.
A cause of death is under investigation, the city said.
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